I need a bike

After my aforementioned accident I am in the market for a new bike. So what should I get. I have a budget of £500.

custom!!!!!!!!

yeah, build the thing yourself! 500 is good enough for a very very nice ride. don't spend it on stock mass produced bikes.

Is that £500 for whole bike? or frame? Mercian £480, Bob Jackson Vigorelli of-the-peg £295

I was assuming frame + parts transfer from old bike..

It will be for the whole bike. A bob or Merc is unfortunately out of my price range. Me and the wife have come to an agreement that what ever I spend on the bike I will spend on her i.e a £500 bike = A trip to NY, a £150 beater = A trip to Gt Yarmouth.

Nothings really transferable from my old bike.

not even the cranks or hubs...you mean nothing at all?
try whitcomb cycles, they're good framebuilders and won't rip you off, you could get a fort maybe, if you like aluminium, i do...£65 above your budget isn't bad at all
or give fixedgearlondon a call .

I thought the wheels where ok but both hubs make very weird noises and won't make a full rotation when I turn them. The bottom bracket was a bog standard one which i couldn't remove when I first concerted the bike. The cranks, chainring and handlebars are bent. I have a lockring though!

thats a good start.....but have you got a screw driver?

I got a whole (ikea)toolkit!

fixedgearlondon

£500 will get you get you an excellent bike!

i saw that one, sweet build. that for 500 is an excellent deal.

p.s. does andy spray or powdercoat his frames??

powdercoat

armourtex

After much discussion with the better half I am going all out and getting a custom Yamaguchi (http://www.yamaguchibike.com/frames/track-teamusatrack.htm). Slightly above my stated price range but it will be my dream bike and I have been working my bottom off all year. I figured it will cost around £1200 altogether. The only trouble being that now I have to spend an equal amount on the wife!

Ha ha...I am a male escort I just temp as a paramedic.

Jeebus Feckin Cripes!

WTF is wrong with keeping a few UK builders in business?

When they start adding NJS stamps to their frames.. all will be saved! :S

Yer just need an SE8 stamp.

Whitcomb?

You know it makes sense.

Barrie will hand build you a frame for the price of a DeLancey.

Gotta be a bargain.

Then you realise he's been building frames in the same workshop since 1959.

And that he builds two or three frames a month.

And that Ernie (his Old Man) still works in the shop.

And somewhat worryingly at the age of 64 he has no apprentice (although Sachs and Serotta have done well) so when he knocks it on the head the history stops.

doesn't he want an apprentice?

It'd be a good job for some of these layabout "design" students, there's too many of them already..

Why Yamaguchi? Because I grew up in America to a family (well, two uncles) who were into track racing. The bike of the American team was a Yamaguchi. So I have always hoped that one day I could have one of my own. Incidentally my uncle gave me his old one but it got stolen about a year ago.

Im sure the aforementioned British bike builders make amazing bikes but alas they don't have the sentimental value my Yamaguchi will. Also I am hopefully going to be attending the Dave Yates bike building course next year which help my Karma...a bit.

so that you guys know, i've always lusted after a hand built frame but uk framebuilders. be it a bob jackson mercian witcomb or roberts.

when i finally get a better job with decent pay i'm going to order one straight away to celebrate.

what do you guys reckon, out of the 4 that i mentioned, which one should i go for? anyone who can tell me the differences between them and how to choose which one?

dexterflexter

fixedgearlondon

£500 will get you get you an excellent bike!

is that a surly steamroller frame?